The Game of Death is an incomplete Hong Kong martial arts film directed by, written by, and starring Bruce Lee. Produced by Concord Production and expected to be released in 1973, over 120 minutes of footage was shot between September and October 1972, mostly from the climax of the film.
During filming, Lee received an offer to star in Enter the Dragon, the first kung fu film to be produced by a Hollywood studio (Warner Bros.), and with a budget unprecedented for the genre ($850,000). Lee died of cerebral edema before the film's release. At the time of his death, he had made plans to resume the filming of The Game of Death. After Lee's death, Enter the Dragon director Robert Clouse was enlisted to finish the film using two body doubles; it was released in 1978 as Game of Death, five years after Lee's death, by Golden Harvest. Surviving footage was also included as part of the documentary Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey.
The story of Lee's original 1972 film involves Lee's character who, in order to save his siblings, is forced into joining a group of martial artists who have been hired to retrieve a stolen Chinese national treasure from the top floor of a five-story pagoda in South Korea, with each floor guarded by martial artists who must be defeated while ascending the tower. The 1978 film's plot was altered to a revenge story, where the mafia attempts to kill Lee's character, who fakes his death and seeks vengeance against those who tried to kill him. The final part of the film uses some of Lee's original film footage, but with the pagoda setting changed to a restaurant building, where he fights martial artists hired by the mafia in an attempt to rescue his fiancée Ann Morris (played by Colleen Camp). This revised version received a mixed critical reception but was commercially successful, grossing an estimated worldwide.
It was an influential film that had a significant cultural impact. The original version's concept of ascending a tower while defeating enemies on each level was highly influential, inspiring numerous action films and video games. The film is also known for Lee's iconic yellow-and-black jumpsuit as well as his fight scene with NBA player and student Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, both of which have been referenced in numerous media.
Original film Plot The original plot involves Lee playing the role of Hai Tien (海天), a retired champion martial artist who is confronted by Korean underworld gangs. They tell him the story of a pagoda where guns are prohibited. The pagoda is under heavy guard by highly skilled martial artists; they are protecting a stolen Chinese national treasure (which is not identified at all in any surviving material) held on its top level.
The gang boss wants Hai to be a part of a group of martial artists he assembled, to help retrieve said item by fighting the guardians. This is the boss's second team he's sending; the first team he sent was nearly wiped out. They force the reluctant Hai to participate by abducting his two younger siblings. Along with four other martial artists (two played by James Tien and Chieh Yuan), Hai battles his way up a five-level pagoda. The team encounters a different, and stronger, challenge on each floor.
As originally scripted by Lee, Hai and company enter the temple grounds, where at the pagoda's base, they fight 10 Karate black belts. Inside the pagoda, Hai's team encounters a different opponent on each floor, each one more formidable than the last. The other fighters assisting Hai are handily defeated by the pagoda guardians, as they're not as skilled as Hai; the guardian in turn must be defeated by Hai.
At the pagoda raid, Hai's group was to fight 25 floor guardians: Bolo Yeung (sensei), Lam Ching-ying, Yuen Wah, Unicorn Chan, Bee Chan, Wu Ngan, and 14 others as The Twenty Black-Belt Karate Fighters – Ground Floor Guardians (was never filmed) Hwang In-shik as Expert Kicker – 1st Floor Guardian, (only Ground Floor footage) Taky Kimura as Praying Mantis-style Shih-fuv and Wing Chun – 2nd Floor Guardian (was never filmed either) Dan Inosanto as Eskrima Filipina – 3rd Floor Guardian Ji Han-jae as Korean Hapkido Master – 4th Floor Guardian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Mantis (螳) – 5th Floor Guardian
Hai would defeat all 25 formidable masters after his follow raiders were taken down by each master of the floor. The last raider to be defeated is James Tien's character. He's beaten by the final guardian (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), a giant fighter who fights with a free and fluid fighting style similar to Hai's Jeet Kune Do. Because of the guardian's great size and strength, in addition to his potent martial artistry, he can only be defeated when Hai recognizes and exploits his greatest weakness: an unusually high sensitivity to light.Little, John. Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (book). McGraw-Hill.
Immediately after defeating the giant guardian, Hai turns around and descends the staircase heading out of the pagoda. Despite all the talk of something awaiting up top of the (now unguarded) flight of stairs, there is no mention of anyone going up to retrieve it. No surviving material explains how this affects Hai or his captive siblings.Game Over! by Joe Kenney Cityonfire.com 1 January 2011, JJ Bona An additional character would be played by George Lazenby, being a spiritual guru involved in some sort of war who would help Hai at the end.
Production Although the pagoda was supposed to have five floors, complete scenes were only shot for three of the floors: the "Temple of the Tiger", where Lee faced Inosanto; the "Temple of the Dragon", where he fought Ji Han-jae; and the final floor, known as the "Temple of the Unknown", where he fought Abdul-Jabbar. Hapkido master Hwang In-shik was slated to play the guardian of the first floor, a master of a kick-oriented style, while Bruce's long-time student and good friend Taky Kimura was asked to play the guardian of the second floor, a stylist of praying mantis kung fu.
The goal of the film's plot was to showcase Lee's beliefs regarding the principles of martial arts. As each martial artist is defeated (including Lee's allies), the flaws in their fighting style are revealed. Some, like Dan Inosanto's character, rely too much on fixed patterns of offensive and defensive techniques, while others lack economy of motion. Lee defeats his opponents by having a fighting style that involves fluid movement, unpredictability, and an eclectic blend of techniques. His dialogue often includes comments on their weaknesses.
Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey Several years later, Bruce Lee historian John Little released Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey, a documentary revealing the original footage and storyline of The Game of Death. The documentary also includes a fairly in-depth biography of Lee and leads into the filming of The Game of Death. Originally meant to be a documentary in its own right, it can now be found on the second disc of the 2004 Special Edition DVD release of Enter the Dragon, along with the documentary Bruce Lee: The Curse of the Dragon.
Bruce Lee in G.O.D: Shibōteki Yūgi In 2000, the Japanese film Bruce Lee in G.O.D 死亡的遊戯 was released on DVD. This film shows Lee's original vision of the film through the existing footage that was shot for the film before he died, interviews, and historical re-enactments of what went on behind the scenes. A "special edition" DVD was released in 2003.
Cast
Game of Death (1978 film)
Game of Death is a 1978 Hong Kong martial arts film co-written (under the pseudonym Jan Spears alongside Raymond Chow) and directed by Robert Clouse, with action choreography by Sammo Hung. The film stars Bruce Lee, with Kim Tai-jong and Yuen Biao as his stunt doubles, along with Gig Young (in his final film appearance), Dean Jagger, Colleen Camp, Robert Wall, Hugh O'Brian, Dan Inosanto, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Mel Novak, Sammo Hung, Ji Han-jae and Casanova Wong.
Plot The 1978 version uses portions of the original footage married to an entirely new plot involving a new character, Billy Lo (盧比利), struggling against a racketeering "syndicate" after gaining international success as a martial arts movie star. When Billy refuses to be intimidated by syndicate henchman Steiner and his gangs of thugs, syndicate owner Dr. Land orders his assassination to serve as an example to others.
Disguised as a stuntman, Land's assassin, Stick, sneaks onto the set of Billy's new film, and shoots Billy during filming. A fragment of the bullet passes through Billy's face, leaving him alive but in need of plastic surgery which alters his facial features. Billy takes the opportunity to fake his death and disguise himself, exacting revenge against those who wronged him one at a time. When the syndicate threatens and kidnaps his fiancée, Ann Morris, Billy is forced to come out of hiding to save her.
In the revised but chopped footage, Bruce Lee's fight scenes inside the pagoda are assumed to take place in the upper floors of the Red Pepper restaurant: Dan Inosanto as Pasqual – Lower Floor Guardian Ji Han-jae as Restaurant Fighter – Middle Floor Guardian Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as Hakim – Quarter Floor Guardian Hugh O'Brian as Steiner – Top Floor Guardian
Dr. Land and his thugs have laid an ambush, but in the end, Billy survives the ambush, rescues Ann, and destroys each of the main mobsters one-by-one.
Cast
Production The revised version of the film uses only 12 minutes and 41 seconds of the footage from the original The Game of Death, and for the vast majority of the film, the role of Billy Lo was shared by Korean taekwondo master Kim Tai-jong and Hong Kong martial arts actor Yuen Biao, and was voiced by Chris Kent. The plot of the film allowed Kim and Yuen to spend much of the film in disguises, usually involving false beards and large, dark sunglasses that obscured the fact that they bore little resemblance to Lee. Many scenes, including fight scenes, also included brief close-up bits of stock footage of the real Bruce Lee from his pre-Enter the Dragon films, often only lasting a second or two. These clips are easily recognisable due to the difference in film quality between the old and new footage. At one point in the movie, real footage of Lee's corpse in his open-topped casket is used to show the character Billy Lo faking his death. There is even a scene taking place in Billy's dressing room where a cut-out of Lee's face was taped to a mirror, covering the body double's own face.
Soundtrack The American score was composed by John Barry. The vocal theme song "Will This Be The Song I'll Be Singing Tomorrow?" was sung by Colleen Camp.
Theme song "Game of Death" () Lyrics: James Wong Composition and Arrangement: Joseph Koo Performance: Roman Tam
Release Game of Death was released in Hong Kong on 23 March 1978. In the United States, the film was released by Columbia Pictures on 9 June 1979. The film was released in the Philippines by Asia Films on 15 December 1988.
Box office The film was successful at the box office in Hong Kong (23 March 1978 release), grossing . Within three weeks of its release (by 13 April 1978), the film grossed nearly in the Far East. In Japan (14 April 1978 release), it became the eighth highest-grossing film of 1978 with distributor rental earnings of , equivalent to estimated box office gross receipts of approximately (). In South Korea (May 1978 release), it sold 281,591 tickets in the capital city of Seoul, equivalent to an estimated gross revenue of approximately ().